Local Society: Northampton

At BCS, we’re on a mission to ensure everyone’s experience with technology is positive. It’s something we’ve been committed to since 1957 ... We're over 60,000 members in 150 countries, and a wider community of business leaders, educators, practitioners and policy-makers all committed to our mission ... Whichever your area of interest, our wide-ranging specialist and regional groups offer you a professional and friendly platform to share knowledge and experiences, debate ideas, grow your network and raise your profile.' Apart from the significant number of Events 'open to all' organized by the various BCS Groups, there are also the annual Karen Spärck Jones Lecture, Lovelace Lecture, Roger Needham Lecture, and Turing Talk.

'A place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to have a conversation about the latest ideas in science and technology. Meetings have taken place in cafes, bars, restaurants, theatres, libraries and even out of doors, but always outside a traditional academic context ... Audiences are people who are interested in science. Anyone can participate; speakers are there to be questioned and talk about their work at all levels.'

'Exists to promote the study, practice and teaching of western calligraphy in all its forms, and to generate awareness and appreciation among the wider public ... We offer both individual and group memberships.'

'The Embroiderers' Guild exists to build awareness of stitch and textile art. We educate, encourage, inspire and promote the achievement of excellence ... We have a number of independent stitch groups who are affiliated to the Embroiderers' Guild.' (NOTE At the time of Review, the Guild no longer provided Links to the Websites of their affiliated Groups.)

'We are the charity that campaigns to protect and restore the country's 7,000 miles of inland waterways ... We campaign locally and nationally for the waterways – supporting restorations, lobbying parliament, championing regeneration and raising waterways users concerns ... Our members and volunteers are waterways-lovers from all walks of life who want to preserve and improve the network for future generations.'

'Through its meetings and its advice and information service, IFN, with its member bodies, helps make better known and understood the teachings, traditions and practices of the different faith communities in the UK and the pattern of their inter faith work and builds good relations between people of different faiths in the UK.'

'The Society exists to publish the records of the ancient county of Northamptonshire including the former Soke of Peterborough and to promote the study of the county's history ... All members receive: * The Society's Journal, Northamptonshire Past and Present, published annually; * Regular volumes, approximately one every two years; * Invitations to two lectures per year; * Access to the Society's facilities at Wootton Hall Park, including the extensive library of local and national history.'

'The Society was founded in Cheltenham in 1928 at a time when there was little official information published about locomotive stock, their allocations or regular duties. The Society set about rectifying this by members writing to each other, the publishing of a magazine and some meetings organised around the country ... Move on to the present day and the Society is still going strong with 3000 members ... Our branches hold meetings at least monthly in the season at over thirty centres and in the course of a year host over 200 presentations on a vast range of railway subjects covering the modern scene as well as history and nostalgia subjects.'